The "Bar-Rom" battle online

Do we vote solely on our principles and candidate policies? Or does media and marketing do enormous influence in defining which way an election result swings?Advertising matters in politics
 

The 2008 election definitely ushered in a new era of digital marketing and its influences in presidential elections- online advertising, online fund raising, social advertising all went to re-shape the political setting. As we see it, this is becoming a bigger and more influencing vehicle as we come close to the 2012 election.
 

A good start could be by gauging the search volume on the candidates. As this could clearly show the public’s “traction” to a particular candidate-in this case Romney.( an acting president could get a higher traction due to his daily news items and public speeches).
 

A comparison of searches for Obama in 2008 as against Romney in 2012, shows hat Obama clearly had a higher traction by almost 5x search volumes. What’s interesting is that in 2008 Obama was in a fierce battle with Hillary Clinton , while Romney comes into 2012 election after his unsuccessful bid from 2008.
 

Paid search is also an excellent medium to deliver targeted messages to potential voters and even drive donation. Someone searching for a candidate could very well be a swing voter actively pursuing information and very well could be turned into a potential vote.
As the chart shows, Obama camp seems to be doing well when it comes to sponsored links (search links that throw up as sponsored ads), well ahead of Romney camp

Display advertising has also become an important vehicle in digital advertising. Highly targeted advertisement, with crisp messaging and ad copy can go  a long way in getting maximum impact and reach and attract the right audience.

While Romney attracts with a message of “Click like to stand with Mitt”(more heavily on Facebook) , 

 the Obama camp seems to using Michelle Obama to drive home the message and also garner some women votes.

 

What this clearly shows is that, while campaigning has been an important part and parcel in any election, the use of the new medium comes as an important tool to communicate with the voters.
 

What would be interesting to note would be, if these advertising campaign and the effective or the ineffective use of this medium makes a difference in the outcome of the election. 

We shall wait until the“November Rains”